She was forty-three. Tall for a woman at around five foot nine inches, and slender, to the point of being thin and had hair that was prematurely silve...ed, tied in a savagely tight bun, pinned at the nape of her neck. Her clothing would have been the height of fashion in a bygone age, being twenty or more years out of date. Her whole working life, since leaving school, had been spent in the same basement for three-quarters of the day and then at her office desk on the third floor with a window. She and I expect to be together some day, but we both know the difficulties. We also both know that if we put our lives on hold, we won’t grow and that could cause all kinds of problems down the road. So we both are going about our lives as if we were free, and we’ll see where we end up down the road. We know most High School relationships aren’t permanent. I’m not entering into a relationship with the intent for it to fail, but with the realization that the odds are it will.”“So like, you. Ever the opportunist he walked over to the table and asked her if he could join her. She had smiled and said that he could, but that it might be for only a moment or two as she was waiting for her daughter to join her. They made small talk and he commented on the fact that he rarely saw a woman of her beauty in the bar so early in the day. The woman raised an eyebrow at that and said, "Oh? You spend a lot of time in here early in the day?"He laughed and explained why he was there and told her. Getting up, Ken walked over to the replicator, and ordered a cigar from the machine."Computer, replicate me a cigar please."The item requested materialized, and Ken picked it up. Walking back to his chair, he sat and chewed on the end of it. Pulling the cigar out of his mouth, he looked over at Ted."Ted, are your Marines ready to go?"Ted glanced at Ken and then did a double take when he saw him with the cigar,'Ah, crap. He is nervous, but I don't blame him. So the fuck am I.'"I have thirty-five.